


Functional and Happy

by skinsharpenedteeth (Skinsharpenedteeth)



Series: Michael Guerin Week 2020 submissions [3]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alex Manes Deserves Nice Things, Deep Conversations, Drunken Confessions, Drunken Flirting, M/M, Michael Guerin Deserves Nice Things, Michael Guerin Week 2020, imposter syndrome, michael guerin is a good guy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:00:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26594077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skinsharpenedteeth/pseuds/skinsharpenedteeth
Summary: This is for Day 6 of Michael Geurin Week 2020.Prompt: "Are you drunk?"Alex stumbles to Michael's place in the middle of the night and they talk about his expectations of himself and his relationship with Forrest. Feat. Good Guy Michael Guerin
Relationships: Forrest Long/Alex Manes, Past Michael Guerin/Alex Manes - Relationship
Series: Michael Guerin Week 2020 submissions [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927264
Comments: 2
Kudos: 82





	Functional and Happy

MGW, Day 6: “Are you drunk?”

Michael nearly jumped out of his skin when a pounding on his door woke him out of sleep. It sounded like someone with an axe to grind and he’d just gotten to sleep longer than 3 hours for the first time in weeks. Groaning, he rolled off his bed and grabbed the dirty pair of jeans he’d worn that day off the floor. The pounding continued and he cursed as the zipper got caught halfway up.

“Jesus, save your hand. I’m coming already!” Michael yelled, trying to get the zipper to unstick and finally just giving up. Whoever was calling at this hour would just have to suffer some pubes.

Hopping down the two steps, Michael tried to swing open the Airstream door but a weight was keeping him from opening it all the way.

“What the….?” He mumbled, pushing harder to get the door to move. He heard a startled exclamation and then a thump of someone hitting the dirt outside. He pushed the door all the way open and looked out into the area he liked to think of as his front yard. Alex Manes was groaning and rolling in the dirt.

“Oh my god, Alex! Are you okay?” Michael exclaimed, jumping down onto the dirt and rushing over to kneel by Alex’s side. Alex turned onto his side and reached out, grabbing onto Michael’s knees.

“I am not fine. The world will not stop spinning,” he slurred, grimacing and squeezing his eyes shut.

“Uh, are you drunk?” Michael asked, not knowing where to put his hands or what to do. He’d never seen Alex this way before.

“Does it look like I’m drunk?” Alex asked, his voice low and the words running together slightly.

“Uh… yeah. Yeah it does. Why are you drunk?” Michael asked on a sigh. He decided he’d help Alex at least get out of the dirt so he got an arm under his shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position.

“Whooa… oh God. Too fast. You did that way too fast,” Alex moaned, turning a little green and breathing loudly through his nose.

“Why are you drunk, Alex?” Michael asked again, starting to feel a little perturbed.

“Because whiskey is an alcohol and is delicious when mixed with things,” Alex answered in uncharacteristic sarcasm.

“Yes, yes it is. But you’re not the drunk in this dynamic. You’re the stoic, passive aggressive one and I’m the erratic, self-sabotaging asshole. So why are you taking my act, Manes?” Michael asked while eyeing the metal chairs he had set up around his fire pit.

“You. Forrest. Life,” Alex answered sadly, staring down at his hands which were scuffed from the fall and slightly bloody. Michael sighed loudly and thanked everyone who’d ever had to deal with his shit while he was inebriated. Thank God only Iz could read minds.

“Okay, we’re going to unpack some of that if you want in a minute. But first we’re going to get you to sit in one of those chairs over there and then I’m going to get some first aid stuff to clean your hands… and possibly a puke bucket. Ready to move?” Michael asks, watching Alex sway side to side as he sat staring down at his hands with an adorable, slightly confused look on his face.

“I didn’t even notice,” Alex mumbled quietly, still looking at his hands as Michael started to hoist him into a standing position.

Once he got his feet under him, it was obvious standing was not going to be Alex’s strong suit. He wobbled violent in Michael’s arm, his body lurching as they started walked the three feet towards the metal sitting chairs. Michael was glad the night was kind of cool since a fine sweat at broken out on Alex’s face as they’d moved. He dumped Alex as gently as possible into the metal chair. Alex started to slump down the chair slightly and Michael sighed exasperatedly. Looking down at Alex whose eyes were closed again and who had possibly passed out, he decided to use his telekinesis to steady his legs so they wouldn’t slip on the gravel and deposit Alex back in the dirt.

“I’m going into my trailer to get the first aid stuff. Don’t. Move,” he commanded before starting to take a step away.

Faster than he would’ve thought possible, Alex flung an arm out and grabbed onto his jeans pulling him back to the side of the chair. Michael let himself be dragged, feeling a little amused at drunk Alex, and stood still while Alex wrapped his arms around Michael’s thighs and pressed the side of his face into Michael’s stomach.

“Don’t go! You’re so warm and it’s cold out here. I don’t want you to go,” Alex moaned piteously, his arms tightening and almost buckling Michael’s knees. Michael’s hands automatically grabbed onto Alex’s shoulders to try and keep from falling. As soon as it was clear Alex wasn’t going to keep squeezing and unbalancing him, Michael let him hug him for a minute while he rubbed back. He looked up at the sky and stared at the vastness of space and thought, self-indulgently for a moment, Why him?

“You’re so warm and soft,” Alex said with a hum of pleasure as he rubbed his cheek against the hair on Michael’s stomach. A part of Michael that should have absolutely no part in what was happening twitched in interest and Michael’s hands tensed on Alex’s shoulders in surprised horror, Alex hadn’t felt anything. But of course he did. He couldn’t feel that his hands were bleeding, but he could feel a tiny muscle movement through denim and the numbness that came with inebriation.

“Oooo, wanna play, Guerin?” Alex asked, hooking a finger onto his stuck zipper and starting to pull his pants away from his skin. Michael slapped his hand quickly and took a step back, breaking free of Alex’s now one-armed hold on his leg. Alex was looking surprised and affronted that he’d smacked his hand.

“No!” Michael said, his voice in front of him like he was disciplining a bad puppy. “No, sir. Not tonight. Not when you’re dating someone else. If you need to hear it in Spanish, I can say it that way too: No!”

Alex was looking at him and pouting. Later, Michael would find that look endearing and flattering, but right now he was just annoyed. When Alex continued to just look at him in silence, Michael turned and started back towards the Airstream.

“Stay there. Don’t vomit,” he commanded over his shoulder as he bounded up the steps and went in search of his first aid kit. Being an alien who didn’t trust hospitals or normal medical care from professionals he had quite a collection of medical supplies in his personal arsenal against weeping wounds and lacerations. So, when he returned to see Alex now leaning far back in the chair staring at the stars, he was carrying a tacklebox with him.

Setting down the tacklebox next to Alex’s chair, he drug another of his metal chairs over so he could sit across from him. Alex was still pouting, staring at the sky and Michael elected to ignore it. He was getting pretty tired of Drunk Alex for the evening. He wanted to be back in his bed sleeping since he would be up in the next four hours for work. Opening the box, he dug out some wet wipes and grabbed one of Alex’s hands, turning the palm up so he could start wiping the blood and debris from his scraped skin.

“Ow!” Alex said indignantly, sitting up and starting to pull his hand back. Michael held onto it firmly and pinned Alex down with a look. Alex was only able to hold his eyes for a minute before he murmured, “it hurt…”

“Well, it might do that. I’ll try to be gentler,” Michael replied, wiping the grime away more softly than before. Alex watched him work, slowly picking out any pieces of gravel that had imbedded themselves in his wounds and wiping more gently to pull away the dried blood from his skin. Michael worked for a few minutes cleaning each hand and then dabbing the cuts with peroxide.

“I’m sorry, Michael,” Alex said softly as Michael started painting Nu Skin over his injuries.

“Gunna tell me what all this was about?” Michael asked, not looking up from what he was doing in hopes it would help Alex open up about whatever had precipitated him getting rip roaring drunk and banging on Michael’s door at owl o’clock.

“Ugh,” was all Alex said at first, closing his eyes and looking back up at the stars while Michael got started on his other hand.

“Forrest is great,” he said, sounding sad and confused.

“Okay,” Michael said slowly, trying not to get defensive or jealous about Alex’s admission. “That’s a bad thing?”

“No…yes.. I don’t know, maybe?” Alex looked back down at Michael’s hands on his, seeming to collect his thoughts before continuing. “He’s really nice, ya know? He makes me laugh, he treats me well, he’s… you know? But, I’m… I’m not me around him. I feel like I’m playing this version of myself that isn’t broken and I’ve been really scared that he’d see that part of me. He’d realize I’d been lying to him about… about being the kind of person who was happy and easy to like all the time.”

Michael thought about it. He could understand the sentiment. He didn’t trust nice people. ‘Nice’ people always seemed to have a price for their good deeds and he would rather know up front what that price would be. Sometimes it was sex, sometimes it was work, sometimes it was finding a pedestal for them to perch from so they got to continue being ‘so nice’, but there was always, ALWAYS something they wanted in return. But, Alex was nice, too and he wasn’t sure that Alex had ever asked for anything in return for it.

“You are easy to like, Alex. It’s not like your broken parts are showing all the time. If he’s all those great things then… then he should know somewhere that you’re also human. I mean, does he know about your dad? Or all the shit you went through overseas?” Michael asked, leaning back and finally looking at Alex’s face. He’d been watching it in his peripheral vision, but once again was struck at how beautiful he was even when shit faced. Alex was running his fingers over the dry Nu Skin contemplatively.

“Yeah. I mean, he doesn’t _know_ know. But he’s knows my dad was a terrible human being and obviously he knows about…” Alex leaned over and knocked on his prosthetic. “He was in the military. It’s not like he doesn’t know what goes on where I was stationed.”

“But you still feel like you’re faking it with him?” Michael asked, arms wrapping around his own torso and telling himself it was because of the chill in the air and his lack of a shirt. He suddenly felt very underdressed for this serious of a discussion.

“I just… I’m afraid I’ll ruin it. I’ve never been in love with anyone besides you. I’m not saying I’m in love with him, but I could see us possibly being functional and happy together,” Alex was glancing at Michael nervously, whether ready to apologize for loving him or for pointing out that he and Alex together didn’t equal functional or happy he didn’t know. But he understood. He’d stepped away that night at the Wild Pony because he knew they were in a sick cycle and they both needed to get away from it in order to get back on track. If they ever were to get back on track. He rubbed his hands over his face and sat forward on his knees to steady himself.

“If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. But it won’t be because you ‘ruined’ anything, okay?” Michael offered. He didn’t know how to tell Alex that as much as he saw himself as ‘damaged goods’ he was still the best person Michael had ever known. Still the only person Michael would have ever considered himself to have been ‘in love’ with. He loved Maria, but he’d loved feeling like the good guy even more. He’d loved the easy manner between them. Maybe that’s what Alex meant by functional.

“I guess. I should be getting home,” he said, trying to stand up and somehow managing to stagger still halfway sitting. Michael reached out and tucked his hands under his arms to steady him.

“Yeah right. You can sleep in my bed. You’re not driving anywhere tonight, airman,” Michael said, letting go as soon as Alex’s feet were under him. “Think you can make it inside on your own steam?”

“Yeah, yeah, I can,” Alex said, turning and starting towards the trailer. Michael sat back down and watched him, ready to jump up if he looked like he was going to stumble. Once Alex was inside the doorway he turned and looked over his shoulder, confused when he had to look for Michael back at the chairs.

“You not coming?”

“Nah. I’m going to watch the stars for a little bit. Go ahead and lay down,” Michael called over. After a pause, Alex nodded and went inside. Michael set his feet up in Alex’s vacated chair and leaned back to look up at the sky again. He could only find the most obvious of constellations without consulting a chart. His body felt heavy and his mind was starting to stall out now that the action was over. Sighing, he took one longing look at the trailer before getting up and padding over to his truck. He opened the passenger door and reached under the seat pulling out an old red and grey knit blanket that Isobel has made him one year at summer camp. Then he climbed into the cab, shut the door behind him and spread out on along the bench seat, using his arms for a pillow. He might wake up with a crick in his neck, but at least his conscience would be clean.

**Author's Note:**

> comments/kudos/high fives keep me from drinking the blood of the innocent. 
> 
> come see me at [ my tumblr! ](http://skinsharpenedteeth.tumblr.com)


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